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News > Latin America

Mexican Journalist Is Shot To Death In Chiapas

  • Journalist Freddy Lopez, Mexico.

    Journalist Freddy Lopez, Mexico. | Photo: Twitter/ @taulapermexic

Published 29 October 2021
Opinion

The Committee to Protect Journalists informed that the world’s deadliest countries for the practice of journalism are Somalia, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Mexico.

On Thursday, Mexican journalist Freddy Lopez was shot dead outside his home in San Cristobal de las Casas in the state of Chiapas.

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Accompanied by his family, the editor of Jovel magazine was arriving at his home when he was attacked by an unknown person and died almost immediately. The police searched unsuccessfully for the attacker. The Attorney General's Office began investigations to find those responsible for the crime and to clarify its causes.

Lopez, who was a correspondent for El Universal in Guatemala in the 1990s, worked for the Central American magazine Panorama and was in charge of the Notimex office in Chiapas. He also was head of information in the newspaper Novedades and published articles in the magazine Proceso.

On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Mexico ranks sixth in the Global Impunity Index, which assesses countries according to the persistence of the lack of punishment in murder cases. Currently, the world’s deadliest countries for journalists are Somalia, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Mexico.

“The CPJ’s global index calculated the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population… It only tallies murders that have been carried out with complete impunity, while it does not include those where partial justice has been achieved,” GMA Network recalled.

"CPJ defines murder as a deliberate killing of a specific journalist in retaliation for the victim’s work. This index does not include cases of journalists killed in combat or while on dangerous assignments, such as coverage of protests that turn violent," it added.

According to this 2021 CPJ report, the rate of attacks on Mexican journalists has increased permanently from September 2011 to August 2021. In the last two years, at least four journalists were killed for reasons directly linked to their communication work. In that period, however, the Mexican justice only convicted the murderers of journalists Javier Valdez and Miroslava Breach.

Over the last 21 years, 142 Mexican journalists have been assassinated for reasons related to their professional work. This figure could be even higher since the Interior Secretary assures that 47 journalists have been assassinated since the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) began in 2018.

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